


Pride and Prejudice

by kilaem



Series: Art Shorts [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Pride and Prejudice Fusion, Fanart, M/M, Omega Stiles Stilinski, Snippet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 08:24:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17763254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kilaem/pseuds/kilaem
Summary: originally posted 12/03/2017





	Pride and Prejudice

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted 12/03/2017

_May I have the next dance, Omega Stilinski?_  The question was still ringing in Stiles’ head, even as they took their places across from each other.  _You may._

He told himself he agreed to it if only to finally be away from his dreaded cousin for a moment, but he knew there was a part of himself that was secretly overjoyed–longed for it, even. He crushed the thought as soon as it appeared, taking a deep breath to steady himself as the music began.

Each step that brought him close to Derek made his heart beat embarrassingly faster, and he hoped that the Alpha maintained enough decency not to listen to it. The music felt crushing, and he had to break the tense silence, if only for his sense of mind. “I love this dance.”

“Indeed,” Derek replied shortly. “Most invigorating.”

Stiles waited as they moved, forcing himself to break the silence between them once again. “It’s your turn to say something, Alpha Hale. I talked about the dance, now you ought to remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples.”

Stiles is not sure if his ears deceive him when he hears the small intake of breath from Alpha Hale, their hands touching as they turn once more. His voice was soft, softer than a lot of the other time Stiles has heard him speak, “…I am perfectly happy to oblige, please advise me of what you would most like to hear.”

“That reply will do for the present,” Stiles answered, trying to keep his smile small and private as he and Derek were able to meet face to face as they turned. “Perhaps by an bye I may observe that private balls are much pleasanter than public ones… But for now we may be silent.”

The  music swelled around them, and Stiles bit his tongue to keep his silence. It had been made clear on multiple occasions that Derek was no fan of conversation.

“Do you talk as a rule while dancing?”

“No,” Stiles could not help his smile from growing at the question, unable to stop himself from the teasing barb that spilled from his mouth. “No, I prefer to be unsociable and taciturn… Makes it that much more enjoyable, don’t you think?”

“Tell me, do you and your sisters very often walk to Meryton?” There was an unexplainable hitch in Derek’s breath, a waver in his words as he spoke, that Stiles could not place the emotion of. Perhaps it was merely the disuse of his voice.

“Yes, we often walk to Meryton.” His eyes rolled at the question, for it seemed so obvious a question, but then Stiles realised it could be an opening for the answers he had been desiring. “It is a great opportunity to meet new people. In fact, when you met us we had just had the pleasure of forming a new acquaintance.”

“Mr Whittemore is blessed with such happy manners, he is sure of making friends… Whether he is capable of retaining them is less certain.” Stiles catches sight of the twitch of a snarl in the Alpha’s upper lip, and there’s a coldness in his voice that makes him shiver. But he refuses to regret his prompting.

“He has been so unlucky to lose your friendship,” Stiles carefully says, only being so daring to let a hint of his contempt peek through, “and I dare say that is an irreversible event.”

“It is,” Derek snaps back, but not once do his eyes show even the faintest hint of red in anger towards Stiles.

He stops and stares down at Stiles, his green eyes piercing. Stiles halts his steps and holds his head high, a proud Omega to his core. There’s a beat of silence as Derek takes him in. “Why do you ask such a question?”

“To make out your character, Alpha Hale.”

“And what have you discovered?”

“Very little,” Stiles answers quickly and honestly, refusing to let himself cower under Derek’s gaze. “I hear such different accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly.”

“I hope to afford you more clarity in the future.” Derek’s gaze and tone soften, if only for that moment.

As they begin to move again, it is as if everyone else has vanished, as if it was only them in the room–as if it was only the two of them in the giant estate. Nothing else mattered, only the steps of the dance, the burning touch of their hands as they moved. Stiles’ heart was in his throat at Alpha Hale’s gaze, the intensity of it, and he could not tell what the emotion was, only that he could not allow it to bloom any more than it had.


End file.
